South Korea to lift quarantine for non-vaccinated foreign arrivals

SEOUL • South Korea's Prime Minister has said that the country will lift its quarantine requirement for foreign arrivals without Covid-19 vaccination on June 8 and also start lifting aviation regulations imposed for international flights.

However, the government will maintain the requirement of a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result prior to entry and a PCR test within 72 hours after arrival.

"While there was a seven-day quarantine obligation for non-vaccinated foreign arrivals until now, such requirement will be eliminated from June 8 regardless of their vaccination status," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told a pandemic response meeting yesterday, adding that the country's Covid-19 situation had stabilised.

Mr Han said any aviation regulations imposed at Incheon International Airport will be lifted from Wednesday to ensure that flights can operate in a timely manner, as current restrictions on flights and flight operation times have caused inconveniences such as lack of tickets and rising prices.

South Korea's Transport Ministry said that it would lift restrictions on the operation of international flights and also expand the number of outbound routes starting from Wednesday.

The ministry has approved some 762 international flights a week for this month, 230 more flights compared with last month, but said it is also willing to grant more approvals to air carriers.

"Due to Covid-19 restrictions, not only the aviation industry but the general public has suffered too long in terms of travelling. By adopting normalisation measures in advance, we hope to lessen the public's inconvenience and see the revitalisation of the aviation industry," said Transport Minister Won Hee-ryong yesterday.

Other new measures include the scrapping of a curfew at Incheon Airport which had been set from 8pm to 5am after two years and two months. The restriction on the number of arriving flights per hour will also be abolished. A measure requiring flight attendants to wear protective gear will also be lifted.

South Korea reported 12,542 new Covid-19 cases as at midnight on Thursday, raising the total number of infections to 18,141,835, the health authorities said yesterday.

The daily caseload was up from 9,898 the previous day, but it was lower than 16,580 tallied a week ago, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. A total of 17 more deaths were confirmed, raising the death toll to 24,229. The total fatality rate was 0.13 per cent.

REUTERS, THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, XINHUA